Toronto film fest taps Hamilton

Former BFI exec new director of programming

MONTREAL — The Toronto Intl. Film Festival Group has appointed former British Film Institute exec Jim Hamilton to the new position of director of Festival Center programming.

Center, set to open in late 2008, will be the new headquarters for the Toronto fest and its year-round activities.

Hamilton will be responsible for all programming, including for the center’s five-screen cinema, the educational spaces and gallery. He will also direct and supervise Cinematheque Ontario, the Film Reference Library and the festival’s education and publication departments.

Hamilton was head of exhibition and head of the National Film Theater at the British Film Institute.

He began his career as house manager for the Odeon Cinemas in Glasgow, Scotland, and then became deputy director of the Glasgow Film Theater and director and CEO of the Edinburgh Film House. He joined BFI in 1999.